This book of collected essays by Laurence Whitehead, an eminent scholar of Latin America, explores the structures and influences that bind together the region, shedding light on this vast and rapidly changing culture zone.
Democratization has swept the globe over the past generation, and analysts and policy makers have been struggling to keep up. Bookshelves have been filled with case studies and assessments of this kaleidoscope of experiences, and a related scholarly community has developed seeking to systematize all this material in accordance with well-defined schemas and causal models. But experience keeps wrong-footing the country analysts, so in this fresh interpretation the author goes back to foundational issues. He argues that democratization is best understood as a complex, long-term, dynamic, and open-ended process extending over generations. Standard models of causal explanation need to be supplemented by more interpretative approaches. Basic questions of citizen security, the nature of public accountability and the role of money as a source of political power need reconsideration. The delicate balance between monetary authority and democratic consent is also examined in the light of the financial crises that have afflicted so many new democracies. This book proposes a range of new perspectives on the complex linkages between democratization and state formation, on the logic of paired comparisons and comparisons between large regions of the world and on the relationship between democratic ideals and 'really existing' democratic outcomes. It aims to equip those caught up in democratization and democracy promotion with a more realistic understanding of the tensions and turbulence involved.
This book is intended as a contribution towards the renewal of theological discourse in the final quarter of the twentieth century. It presents the findings from personal research into the development of the concept of God in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, and the application of his conceptual tools in a re-examination of the writings of some fourth-century Christian theologians in their efforts to provide answers to the problems posed for the Church by Arianism. The research was prompted by Whitehead’s recommendations addressed to theologians in Adventures of Ideas.
An array of internationally noted scholars examines the process of democratization in Southern Europe and Latin America. The authors provide new interpretations of both current and historical efforts of nations to end periods of authoritarian rule and to initiate transition to democracy, efforts that have met with widely varying degrees of success and failure. Extensive case studies of individual countries, a comparative overview, and a synthesis conclusions offer important insights for political scientists, students, and all concerned with the prospects for democracy. In Volume 3, despite the unique contexts of transitions in individual countries, significant points of comparison emerge — such as the influence of foreign nations and the role of agents outside the government. These analyses explore both intra- and interregional similarities and differences.
An array of internationally noted scholars examines the process of democratization in southern Europe and Latin America. They provide new interpretations of both current and historical efforts of nations to end periods of authoritarian rule and to initiate transition to democracy, efforts that have met with widely varying degrees of success and failure. Extensive case studies of individual countries, a comparative overview, and a synthesis conclusions offer important insights for political scientists, students, and all concerned with the prospects for democracy. The historical example of Italy after Mussolini as well as the more recent cases of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey suggest factors that may make a transition relatively secure.
The foundational text for democratization studies for over 25 years. Political science scholars consider the four-volume work Transitions from Authoritarian Rule to be a foundational text for studying the process of democratization, specifically in those cases where an authoritarian regime is giving way to some form of democratic government. The most important of the four books is without a doubt the fourth volume, Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies, also known as “the little green book.” Transitions from Authoritarian Rule was the first book in any language to systematically compare the process of transition from authoritarianism across a broad range of countries. Political democracy is not the only possible outcome. Guillermo O’Donnell, Philippe C. Schmitter, and Laurence Whitehead emphasize that it's not the revolution but the transition that is critical to the growth of a democratic state. This ground-breaking insight remains highly relevant as the ramifications of the Arab Spring continue to play out. This reissue features a new foreword by Cynthia J. Arnson, director of the Latin American Program at the Woodow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Abraham F. Lowenthal, founding director of the Latin American Program, who wrote the original volume's foreword.
Examines the successful and unsuccessful approaches to rapprochement between the United States and various countries in Latin America and the Caribbean after the first year of the Obama administration against a background of initial optimism giving way to both U.S. and Latin American domestic political realities"--Provided by publisher.
Democratization has swept the globe over the past generation, and analysts and policy makers have been struggling to keep up. Bookshelves have been filled with case studies and assessments of this kaleidoscope of experiences, and a related scholarly community has developed seeking tosystematize all this material in accordance with well-defined schemas and causal models. But experience keeps wrong footing the country analysts. So in this fresh interpretation the author goes back to foundational issues. He argues that democratization is best understood as a complex,long-term, dynamic, and open-ended process extending over generations. Standard models of causal explanation need to be supplemented by more interpretative approaches. Basic questions of citizen security, the nature of public accountability and the role of money as a source of political power needreconsideration. The delicate balance between monetary authority and democratic consent is also examined in the light of the financial crisis that have afflicted so many new democracies. This book proposes a range of new perspectives on the complex linkages between democratization and stateformation, on the logic of paired comparisons and comparisons between large regions of the world and on the relationship between democratic ideals and 'really existing' democratic outcomes. It aims to equip those caught up in democratization and democracy promotion with a more realisticunderstanding of the tensions and turbulence involved.
This book is intended as a contribution towards the renewal of theological discourse in the final quarter of the twentieth century. It presents the findings from personal research into the development of the concept of God in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, and the application of his conceptual tools in a re-examination of the writings of some fourth-century Christian theologians in their efforts to provide answers to the problems posed for the Church by Arianism. The research was prompted by Whitehead’s recommendations addressed to theologians in Adventures of Ideas.
The economic crisis in the wake of the COVID pandemic is putting Cuba's socialism to a severe test. The government in Havana has added a fundamental reform of the economy, institutional structure and social policies to the agenda. This volume brings together contributions from leading international experts as well as from the island itself, analysing the economic, political and social challenges Cuba is facing today.
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